Summer Session

[Aashtarsrain]

As I said before, I really like the whole artistic concept, being original with archetypes is not common these days, so it's an effort I do appreciate. There's something nice, funny, "cartoonesque" and "straight-to-the-point" with the characters and sprites, and even their personalities, that I find highly coherent and enjoyable in the demo. Well, sounds like I'm a fan !

[gekiganwing]

EDIT - This was what I thought a week ago. It turned out to be half-correct: When I tried the Windows demo of Summer Session, I wasn't expecting too much. I felt that the art on the page looked like one of the hundreds of "How to draw manga" books. And the writing on the page seemed unremarkable.

For quite a while, I'd been wondering "Will there ever be a ren'ai game in English with gameplay similar to -- and as deep as -- Tokimeki Memorial?" After all, it's been about a decade since True Love. There's been games in English since then which have had distinct or interesting gameplay elements, but almost none which have emphasized the "simulation" part of the often-misused phrase "dating simulation."

That said, this demo left a positive impression on me. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this wasn't just a cute story with a few branching paths. Instead, it included a day planner similar to the schedules seen in the Tokimemo games. The protagonist had five statistics, and the activities which he could do either raised or lowered those stats. Also, there was a degree of uncertainty: the main character didn't always succeed in his daily activities.

In short, it seems like the Papillon and the other creators of Summer Session might have seen what the Shira Oka staff is doing (that is, creating a full-fledged dating sim in English) and then published first. I could be wrong, of course...

I'm guessing that this game will probably be much shorter than Shira Oka. Compared to the demo of S.O. that I saw at ACen 2008, Summer Session lacks animation. Also, I didn't find the art of S.S. nearly as attractive.

Even though Hanako Games and IWin struck a deal a while back and got a boxed version of Cute Knight published, there's no indication whether there will be a boxed version of Summer Session. (I hope there'll be one...)

But if I may say something more positive, at least Summer Session is available *now* for all major computer platforms, and the full game download costs only $20. I might get a more functional Windows PC (compared to my old, dying one) and purchase this game.

There have been some fans who have predicted that there might never be another TM-esque game in English. Thankfully, that's not true any more.

[papillon]

Heh, no, this had nothing to do with Shira Oka, I'm pretty sure Jack had never heard of them. Nor does it belong to my company, so I wouldn't have anything to do with it getting a retail deal or not. You'd have to ask him.

I have no idea what length SO is going for, but I'm sure it's a LOT longer than this. This is a short tricky diversion, not an epic.

(Is SO using the dayplanner style gameplay? I haven't paid that much attention because I don't like to invest too much emotion in WIPs, since so many never get finished. I know of the game, I know it has a pretty big cast list, that's about it.)

One of these days I should get my hands on an actual Tokimemo game for research purposes... One of the projects in my queue (after the Cute Knight sequel probably) is a more otome-styled school sim, which will be a lot more complex. But since it's not even vaguely started yet, there's no guarantees that game will ever get made.

[PyTom]

IIRC, Shira-Oka and Tokimeki use what I call an energy-based system. Basically, you have a limited amount of energy/time each day, and each action used some of it up.

I don't think that it's particularly fair to compare Shira-Oka and Summer Session. For one thing, Summer Session exists and is playable, while Shira-Oka is still vaporware. (It's always hard to compare a real thing, warts and all, with some sort of concept.) There is also the fact that the games are telling different stories: S-O looks like it's trying to be melancholy high-school romance, while Summer Session tells a more mature story. There's also issues of scale... SS takes about an hour per girl, so figure six hours total. S-O seems to be longer, but who knows? At least to me, SS seems to be at a reasonable price point for what you get... $20 is two volumes of manga, which compare unfavorably with six hours of gameplay.

I think I'm getting a sense that people aren't impressed with the demo, more than anything. I think the problem is that the demo cuts off a bit too early, before the story really gets going. In retrospect, the demo might have been made better by covering 3 weeks or so, perhaps locking out the events of all but one or two of the girls.

[papillon]

People *here* may not be impressed, but the game is performing very well. I think making the demo longer would be likely to make buyers disappointed with the length of the game. Casual game buyers tend to get irked if they pay up and then feel like they had most of the game already.

It isn't trying to target hardcore Japanophiles. The game's not set in Japan, the art style isn't quite anime, and none of the characters are moe, at least as far as I understand moe. And as far as I know, Tycoon Games isn't making any plans to advertise at anime conventions. So the audience is slightly different.

I think the generic-ness of it makes it less impressive on these forums which have a high number of people interested in VN-as-art, as well as more freeware ethos.

[monele]

IIRC, Shira-Oka and Tokimeki use what I call an energy-based system. Basically, you have a limited amount of energy/time each day, and each action used some of it up.

Mmm... Tokimemo is actually 1 task / week + 1 task / weekend or holiday. Makes three years go faster

papillon : you should get one of the Tokimemo Girl's side then. They work the same and even have some updated mechanics since they're the most recent.

[papillon]

Are they findable for PC or am I going to be stuck with a DS game where I can't read a thing? My Japanese is only good enough to read トキメキ slowly and carefully.

[monele]

Either DS or PS2, sorry ^^;... Although they do have some typing games for PC, but that's not what you're looking for ^^;

[Counter Arts]

Just watched the DS version's promo... lots of touching guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56l2T8jiBpc

Here is a random sample.

EDIT: Poking the teacher to wake up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ymX232gY5E

Ah yes... reminds of the fears I had when I was sorta TAing in my old highschool... 6 months after I graduated.

[jack_norton]

:raises eyebrow: With art like that, why do the sprites look so poor compared to it?

Well because she made the pictures for the game actually TWO years ago so, her skill greatly improved during those 2 years. The ending pictures are as good as the one your linked to.

I've downloaded renpy today, and I must confess I'm quite impressed by it. I'm playing with the tutorials, and I'm thinking to use it myself to make more adventure games in future (but probably not Hentai, sorry!).

[PyTom]

I've downloaded renpy today, and I must confess I'm quite impressed by it. I'm playing with the tutorials, and I'm thinking to use it myself to make more adventure games in future (but probably not Hentai, sorry!).

Thanks. I'm surprised at how popular Summer Session has gotten, especially on the Mac side of things. I mean, it's not every day that a Ren'Py-based game gets a review in MacWorld.

I will point out that the current build of Ren'Py is PPC-only, as I haven't gotten around to buying an Intel-based mini yet, and I don't want to release software I haven't at least run once. It runs fine on Intel macs, though. (I noted some of the sites list an Intel Mac as a requirement, which shouldn't be the case, unless someone rebuilt Ren'Py on their own.)

[jack_norton]

Well got a review on Macworld because of my uber-marketing skills
(jokes apart having released 10+ other games for mac helps!)

I tested renpy on my ibook and doesn't work though, it's 10.3.9, I listed the game for Intel only to avoid too many users asking for support (even if the game doesn't start, should be obvious for them that doesn't work).

A feature I would like is the ability to use external text files for all the texts/dialogues inside the game, since I plan to do multilanguage games in future (many of my customers are from Germany/France).

Another minor problem is the window that is not autocentering on screen, really weird

[N0UGHTS]

My experience after trying the demo:

—WRITING
It's isn't a game with a lot of back story, but the character interaction and the flow of the game has my hopes up that the endings will be satisfying. I also like the light-hearted feel of the writing. Mollusks, babies, heh heh... Oh, and the end of the demo was genius. In my experience, demos end with a screen with some artwork, system requirements, and the price. I hope it's a foreshadowing of more light-heartedness.
—ART
I like the BGs and the art style, though there was one sprite (Midori's) that was earless, stiff-looking, and somewhat overweight.
—USER INTERFACE
Gorgeous, at least compared to the other games I've played. And, normally I'm not too fond of Ren'Py games interfaces (I like my buttons on the text boxes), I actually enjoyed this one.
—I like the gameplay. So far, it's not repetitive, and I like the "random events" (I'm guessing they're scripted, but it really doesn't matter to me). Makes the gameplay interesting. And so far, there's nothing I can really complain about the game, except for some sprites.

If the demo is a reflection of what the full game is like, 20 USD doesn't sounds too bad. I just might buy this game.

[gekiganwing]

My speculation about Summer Session wasn't entirely correct... So I added a "this is what I thought at the time" disclaimer.

According to GameFAQs, there were a few Tokimemo puzzle games on PC, and the first game was available for Windows 95. Yup, there's several English FAQs for the BxG and the GxB games. One even details strategies for Tokimemo 1. Those guides make the game easier to comprehend.

But if you need an import friendly version which is much easier to find than the vintage PC game, either go for the DS games or the PS1 games. The DS versions work on any system. The original Playstation is now fairly easy to emulate on a modern computer -- you can use the actual game disc and run the game on Windows or OS X.

[Vatina]

You can play ps1 games on the pc? I was wondering for some time if that would be possible now without too much difficulty. There are a few old import games I would like to try... (including Tokimeki).